America's 250th Anniversary: In His Own Image
The founders worried about a king. They did not anticipate this.
This is the second in a three-part series. Part one is here.
America’s 250th anniversary is five weeks away. Here is what the president has done to prepare.
He has moved to put his face on the currency. His portrait has been hung in giant banners on federal buildings across Washington. He has ordered the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool painted “American flag blue” on a no-bid contract that cost seven times his public estimate. He has proposed a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. When asked whom it would honor, he said: “Me.”
This is not the country’s birthday party. It is a rebranding of the country as his.
His Face on the Money
The US Mint has a full program of 250th anniversary coins available to every American: redesigned quarters, dimes, and half dollars celebrating the nation’s founding ideals, available for face value or a few dollars above. And then there is something else entirely. A federal commission consisting solely of Trump’s own appointees approved a separate 24-karat gold commemorative coin featuring Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk with clenched fists. Only 47 will be produced. Each contains an estimated $90,000 worth of gold. The standard coins celebrate the country. The Trump coin celebrates the man.
For more than a century, federal law has stipulated that only deceased individuals may appear on United States currency. Congress is now being asked to change that law for one reason and one person. The Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act would amend the Federal Reserve Act to allow a living president’s portrait on a new denomination of currency. The Treasury Department has already designed the bill and is waiting for Congress to act. When Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked to confirm whom the bill was designed for, he answered: “Donald J. Trump.”
Trump’s signature is also set to appear on standard paper currency for the first time in history, a move the Treasury Department characterized as a celebration of the anniversary. Meanwhile, the Trump Organization has filed a trademark for “Trump 250” images, covering bumper stickers, tote bags, drinkware, and clothing. The government creates the brand. The Trump Organization sells the merchandise.
His Name on the Buildings
Every president’s official portrait hangs in the lobbies of federal agencies. What is hanging on the outside of the Justice, Agriculture, and Labor Department buildings in Washington is different: large exterior banners bearing Trump’s face, paid for with taxpayer funds. The Labor Department spokesperson said the banners would stay up through the 250th celebration due to “tremendous positive response.”
The Kennedy Center, which Congress designated as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, was renamed by Trump’s appointed board in December 2025. On May 29, a federal judge ruled that only Congress has the authority to rename a congressionally designated memorial and ordered Trump’s name removed from the facade and all signage by June 12. The Kennedy Center is complying with the court order while the administration evaluates its legal options. Lin-Manuel Miranda had already canceled Hamilton’s planned performances there. “We’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” he said.
Federal law requires the annual America the Beautiful national park pass to feature the winning photograph from a public photo contest. The 2026 winner was amateur photographer Akshay Joshi, whose image of Glacier National Park in Montana was selected through that process. The Interior Department discarded it and replaced it with a close-up of Trump’s face. Joshi’s photograph was relegated to a newly created pass category that federal law does not authorize. A lawsuit followed.
His Aesthetic on the Landscape
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been repainted “American flag blue” on a no-bid contract awarded under an exemption reserved for urgent situations. Trump told reporters the project would cost under $2 million. Federal records show $14.8 million in contracts were awarded, seven times his public estimate. The Interior Department explained that the cost reflected the need to expedite the timeline for the 250th anniversary celebrations. The pool is the space in front of where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech to 250,000 people in 1963. A nonprofit filed suit arguing the project bypassed federally required historic preservation reviews.
The triumphal arch is Trump’s own idea. A senior White House official confirmed he “came up with the design and has been part of the process every step of the way.” It will be located near Arlington National Cemetery. When asked whom it would honor, Trump said: “Me.”
On June 14, Trump’s 80th birthday, a UFC fight will take place on the White House South Lawn as part of the official 250th anniversary celebration. The event will stream exclusively on Paramount+, which was acquired by Trump ally David Ellison just weeks before Paramount locked down a $7.7 billion exclusive UFC streaming deal. A UFC fight on the president’s birthday is not a neutral entertainment choice. UFC has become the defining sport of Trump’s political coalition, a celebration of physical dominance and the idea that strength is the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy. Using it as the symbolic centerpiece of a national anniversary is a statement about whose America this is: not the founding promise that every person deserves a voice regardless of their power, but something closer to its opposite.
What Historians Tell Us
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian at New York University and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She told NPR that we are living through the building of a personality cult, one in which “the leader must be everywhere, his face must be everywhere, his name must be everywhere, and his aesthetic, his taste must be reflected in buildings, in the people around him. The autocrat wants to remake the world in his own image.”
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss put the power calculation plainly: “This is not just egotistical self-satisfaction. It’s a way of expanding presidential power. A president is more powerful, I assume he believes, if he is ever-present than if he keeps his head down.”
The founders understood this danger. It is why they were explicit about the separation of church and state, why they prohibited titles of nobility, why they wrote the emoluments clauses, provisions barring the president from receiving personal financial benefit from foreign governments or from federal office, into the Constitution. They built a republic specifically to prevent a leader from converting the machinery of the state into a monument to himself. What they could not fully anticipate was the no-bid contract, the appointed commission that approves its own designs, the trademark filed the same week as the commemorative coin.
Closing
Ben-Ghiat calls this a personality cult. The founders called it tyranny. They built a republic specifically to prevent it.
No wonder so many of us are having trouble getting into celebration mode. My next post is about the America the founders were actually trying to build, and the people who are still building it.
Endnotes
1. Kennedy Center renamed by Trump board, December 2025: NPR, Trump’s Name Added to Kennedy Center.
2. Federal judge rules only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center, orders Trump’s name removed by June 12, Kennedy Center complying: CNN, Judge Says Trump Can’t Add His Name to Kennedy Center and Blocks Planned Closure; PBS NewsHour, Trump’s Name Must Be Removed from Kennedy Center by June 12.
3. Lin-Manuel Miranda cancels Hamilton at Kennedy Center: Lin-Manuel Miranda Cancels Hamilton Run at ‘Trump Kennedy Center’.
4. Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool no-bid contract, $14.8 million in awarded contracts, seven times Trump’s public estimate; historic preservation lawsuit: NPR, Nonprofit Sues the Federal Government Over Plans to Paint Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Blue; Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Blue Paint: Records Show $14.8 Million.
5. 24-karat Trump commemorative coin, 47 produced, $90,000 in gold each; US Mint 250th anniversary program: reporting on federal commission approval.
6. Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act; Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms design for Trump; Trump signature on standard currency: Treasury Department statements and congressional bill.
7. Exterior banners on Justice, Agriculture, Labor buildings: Labor Department spokesperson statement.
8. Akshay Joshi park pass photo replaced with Trump image; unauthorized new pass category; lawsuit: reporting on Interior Department decision.
9. Triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery; Trump says it will honor him; senior White House official confirms his design role: White House statements and press pool reports.
10. UFC fight on White House South Lawn, June 14; Paramount+ exclusive streaming deal; David Ellison acquisition of Paramount: press pool reports and entertainment industry coverage.
11. Ruth Ben-Ghiat on personality cults: NPR interview.
12. Michael Beschloss on presidential power: press interview.
13. Trump “Trump 250” trademark filing: USPTO records.